Holiday Stenciling using Martha Stewart Paints by Plaid

November 16, 2011

Happy Wednesday! I’ve had such a busy week, but am excited to share with you how I embellished the placemats that I made and blogged about yesterday. After realizing that I was in need of new placemats for the upcoming Holidays, instead of buying them I made my own. Why buy when you can DIY? That’s my motto!

Here is a quick peak at how they turned out, but you have to keep reading to see how I made them and the products that I used.

I was one of the lucky bloggers chosen to try out the Martha Stewart crafts and stencils by Plaid. This is everything that I received… From paints to stencils to brushes, a huge box was delivered to my door and I was thrilled to test and review everything (and yes, I mean everything)!!

Before actually venturing into stenciling on the placemats, I played around for a while with the different size and style stencils, paints, and brushes. The paints were actually really neat to test out because there was a variety of colors and textures including satin, pearl, and glitter. I’ve only stenciled a few times, so doing a test run first, made me less anxious before starting on the real design. Some of the stencils in the Martha Stewart craft line have an adhesive backing, so they gently stick to the surface you are working on. The adhesive backing is great when stenciling on glass or a vertical surface!

The only stencils that I found difficult to use were the paper style that are basically heavy cardboard. This type of stencil needs to be “punched out” by the user after opening the package. When doing so, part of the “cut out” was left on the stencil and you would need a sharp blade to cut them off. To do that for every stencil in the package, would be way too time consuming. The overall paper stencil didn’t seem heavy enough and the paint was seeping underneath while stenciling. Other than that, my stenciling endeavours were quite successful.

I’m a simple kind of gal and don’t like “over doing”, so I decided to stencil the bottom edge of each placemat so that when the table is set with the dish and utensils on top, the design could still be seen and appreciated throughout the meal.

Each placemat has a different design / theme and includes: trees, gifts, santa, and snowflakes.

Placemat 1: Trees

Holding the stencil in place and using a stencil brush (yes, stencil brushes are different than typical paint brushes), I carefully dabbed on the green color.

I used two greens – a lighter and darker color – to give depth and variation.

With the stencil, there are always some freehand touch ups to do afterwards. Once I removed the stencil, I used a thin, pointy paint brush to connect the trees.

Placemat 2: Gifts and Oraments

This “theme” was fun to make and is probably my favorite out of the four. Using the stocking, present, and ornament stencil in a variety of colors, I created this fun and festive placemat. These stencils had the adhesive back, so it made it very easy to paint.

Placemat 3: Santa

The third placemat is of Santa and his 8 reindeer making their way to each child’s house on Christmas Eve. For this design, I used the santa, reindeer, and tree stencil, then freehanded the reigns between each reindeer.

Placemat 4: Snowflakes

Nothing says Christmas and the Holidays, like snowflakes… I used a variety of colors and a few different snowflake stencils to create this placemat.

And here are all four of the placemats… Decorated and ready to enjoy!

In the spirit of the season (and my blogging life), I’m already (somewhat) in Christmas-mode. As you can see from my table decor, I’m ready and waiting…

I actually styled the table and photographed it when I was in the midst of preparing for my TV debut on the local Fox News station, which aired Live yesterday. If you want to check it out, this is the link! And do you see the log centerpiece? Yes, that’s the 5 Minute Autumn Centerpiece that I had decorated for Fall and now for Christmas.

And again, here is the plain placemat and stenciled placemat. The beauty of these are that they are reversible. For a non-Holiday gathering, they can easily be flipped to the other side.

I’m not usually “crafty”, but I had so much fun experimenting with this Martha Stewart craft line, brought to you exclusively by Plaid Crafts. The products that I used, along with much more, are available at Michaels stores in the US. You will love the endless possibilities and guess what?? They’re ON SALE this week for 30% off. Here is the Michaels weekly ad and a coupon for other non-sale goodies. It’s time to stock up for some DIY projects for the Holidays!

Do you enjoy stenciling? What projects have you made or created using stencils?

What a great idea with the stencils. I found you over at Centsational Girl where you were featured. I read the post on the place mats and then read the follow up to that idea. I love to stencil and DIY as well. I am your latest follower. Can’t wait to keep up with your blog. Hope you will stop by and say hi and consider following me back as well.

Thanks so much Judy for your kind comment and welcome to SAS Interiors. I’m so glad you found me. Stencils are so much fun and I was thrilled to make these placemats and then use the new Martha Stewart stencils. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Jenna